People

Brazen identity theft criminals have become so good at stealing your information that even the government believes them. NBC’s Jeff Rossen reports on one innocent schoolteacher who had her identity stolen over ten years ago and is still living a credit nightmare.

Rossen Reports: Extreme identity thieves

We’ve been hearing about ID theft for years: Criminals buying things and ruining your credit. But now they’re taking it to an all-new level, actually out there living as you: Getting jobs as you, going to the doctor as you, buying homes, even filing taxes as you. And you don’t even know it.

It happened to an innocent schoolteacher who’s still living the nightmare. Candida Guitierrez, a married kindergarten teacher in Texas, wanted the American dream: good job, new home, all of it. But when she applied for a mortgage, she got the shock of her life: Denied for bad credit in a different state!

Candida told us: “They said, ‘Well, it’s basically the house in Kansas and the cars you still have on your account.’ And I said ‘No, I haven’t even visited Kansas, there has to be a mistake.'”

It turns out there was a Candida Guitierrez living in Kansas with the same Social Security number, same date of birth, same everything. But investigators say she was an identity thief who had stolen Candida’s information to buy a house in Topeka, get a job at a food company, and allegedly get medical care for the birth of her two children.